Inhuman #10

Writer – Charles Soule
Artist – Ryan Stegman
Colours – Richard Isanove

Medusa is not a happy camper.  It seems that whenever she tries to exert her authority, there is always someone there confronting her, either to tell her how wrong she is or to try and stop whatever she is doing and frankly, she has had enough.  The tale of the Inhumans continues with the inverted Medusa trying to make her presence felt to the leaders of the world when Spider-Man decides to interfere.  While Charles Soule crafts a good tale and the book has been quite interesting as of late, though bringing in Spider-Man is a little cliché.  Sure, Spidey is eminently recognizable and incredibly popular, but he could have chosen someone else as we do not need to see him in every book that is published by Marvel.  The story of Reader and Xiaoyi in Venice continues as well as they try to escape Ennilux and it is surprisingly just as compelling as the main story is, even though it features characters that are new and pretty much unknown to most.  Ryan Stegman’s art looks just as amazing as ever; fun, energetic and very exciting.  It is great to see him on the book even though he might not be getting the exposure he would if it were an Avengers title or something of the sort.  But with the Inhumans getting more and more exposure as well as an upcoming movie, the outlook for the book can only be good, especially if they keep the quality up as they have been doing thus far.  If you are not reading Inhuman then now is a good time to rectify that situation.

4 out of 5

Scarlet Spiders #2

Writer – Mike Costa
Artist – Paco Diaz
Colours – Israel Silva

Out of all the books to spin out of Spider-Verse, this is the one book that seemed like it would be the least interesting.  Yet, out of all of them, it is actually perhaps the one that has the most fun as it finds the various clones of Peter Parker coming together to complete a mission of vast importance and sees them bantering all the way.  This issue sees our heroes discovering the clone labs, the hub where all the Inheritors are born again, and on the brink of destroying it when they come face to face with the enemy.  The book is good for a number of reasons, mainly the writing by Mike Costa.  Costa injects a lot of humour and a common bond between the three heroes even though they share little common history.  Watching them in action is a lot of fun, especially as they try to figure out what they want to do and not knowing exactly how to go about it at times.  Though only together for a short time, the camaraderie about them comes quite natural and it is like they have known each other for longer than they have.  It more than likely works so well as they are all just versions of themselves, different and yet the same.  Paco Diaz provides some nice artwork and gives the book a very distinctive look, almost like a throwback to the Spidey titles of the 1990s.  While many would like to forget those days, this book is a testament to that time period and the legacy those stories provided.  Really though, this title is only worth picking up if you are reading Spider-Verse as alone, the book would not work as well without the context of the larger crossover.  It fails on that point, but succeeds on all others.

3.5 out of 5